


say your goodbyes (if you've got someone you can say goodbye to)

by thundersart



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Abandonment Issues, Angst, Annabeth Feels, Annabeth is hurt, Annabeth needs a hug, Book 4: The Battle of the Labyrinth (Percy Jackson), Canon Compliant, F/M, Gen, Pre-Relationship, Presumed Dead, but no one is dead
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:54:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27633040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thundersart/pseuds/thundersart
Summary: Percy was not dead, in fact. Part of Annabeth was relieved, the other one was scared to put him through that danger again.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson
Comments: 1
Kudos: 43





	say your goodbyes (if you've got someone you can say goodbye to)

**Author's Note:**

> the title is from how far we've come :)

Percy left Chiron in his wheelchair, staring sadly into the fireplace. He wondered how many times he’d sat here, waiting for heroes that never came back.

He went outside, looking for Annabeth.  _ I thought you were dead, Seaweed Brain _ , she said herself, and a fight was definitely not the best after this kind of thing. He  _ knew  _ what they had to do to find their way to the Labyrinth, and he knew they had to do it  _ soon _ , but right now he had other things to handle.

He found her sitting in the grass next to the stables, staring at her dagger as the time passed by. She had a frown on her face and her trembling lips was the sign that made Percy realize she’d been crying. He felt guilty instantly, his best friend crying was definitely not a sigh he liked to see often, especially when it was because of him.

“Annabeth,” she jumped when she acknowledged his presence. “Are you okay?” he asked, mentally cursing himself for it right after. The answer was pretty obvious.

“What do you want, Percy?” she was clearly trying not to pass any emotion, but her voice cracked.

“Can I stay here with you?”

“I’m not your mom, am I?” she asked dryly. Percy would probably be sad with her tone if he didn’t know it was a defense mechanism to keep him away.

He sat down next to her, keeping a safe distance to not invade her space and make her even more uncomfortable. “I’m sorry, Annabeth...”

“Stop.”

“But I am —”

“I know you are!” she said, clearly louder than she meant to. Annabeth looked away. Percy could see her hands shaking slightly and it was probably why her eyes didn’t meet his. She hated showing any weakness, even to him. "You're not coming this time."

"What?"

"This is my mission, Percy. I've already put you in trouble, you're not coming again. I'll go back and find Grover and Tyson." she said. "I can ask Clarisse..."

"I don't think Clarisse is ever coming back to the labyrinth, Annabeth." Percy stated. "And I'm not letting you go without me."

"Percy, I'm not letting you come with me. It's way too dangerous — "

"This is exactly why I'm not letting you go by your own!" 

"Percy, you're not — "

"No," he said, looking firmly into her eyes. "This is dangerous and you're not going on your own. We're a team, Annabeth.”

"I thought I had lost you!" she shouted. "You don't understand, Percy. I lost everyone I cared about. I lost my father. I lost Thalia. I lost Luke. Some of my siblings joined him, but you didn't know that, did you? I almost lost Grover. Then Thalia came back and left  _ again _ . So don't tell me you understand, Percy! Don't tell me to stay calm!”

It was enough to make Percy shut up. He saw as the tears rolled down Annabeth’s eyes and how fast she wiped them. He knew he should say something, but he had no idea of what to say.

“Everyday I wake up wondering who's next. I woke up for two weeks thinking it was  _ you _ , thinking you were dead and hating on myself for putting you through this when — " she paused, closing her hands in fists so they would stop shaking. "Don't tell me to stay calm, and don't tell me I'm overreacting. I thought I'd lost you, and I care too much about you to let you put yourself in danger for it again.”

He remained silent for a few minutes, trying to form a sentence good enough to take all of her sorrow away, but it was impossible. He wanted to tell her he would never leave, that they would make it through and that he would still stay by her side, but he knew it would be a worthless promise.

They were demigods, there was no certainty of a future. The only promise he could make was to try to come back to her, but there were the chances that he’d never be able to make it true.

“You know you can’t do it, right?” Percy said. “You can’t keep me out of this. There’s a prophecy, after all.”

Annabeth sighed. “I know.” she said. “But it doesn’t make it any easier.”

“We’ll do it, Annabeth.” Percy looked in her stormy grey eyes, now red because of the crying. “And we’ll do it together. We’ll find our way to the Labyrinth and we’ll stop him. We can do it, but you can’t keep me away from it.”

“I don’t wanna lose anyone else.” she admitted.

Another tear rolled down her face and Percy felt his heart breaking as he saw it.

He slowly put his arms around her, holding her tight enough to feel her heartbeat against his skin as her breath got steadier and steadier. “You won’t.”

You won’t lose  _ me,  _ was what he was trying to say, trying to convince both him and Annabeth of it.

Eventually, it would all be coming to an end, and, at least for now, at least for that moment they would pretend it all would be just fine.


End file.
